With a history that dates back nearly 3,000 years to the ancient Greeks who founded the Naples area during the 8th Century BC, Naples is home to Pompeii and Herculaneum, two famous sites destroyed and conserved by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD. We visited these sites when we were here 6 years ago, so we opted for a visit to the city of Naples this time around.
Naples is also home to the Vesuvius Observatory which monitors seismic activity, gas emissions and other indicators 24 hours a day with the goal of knowing at the earliest possible moment when the volcano may blow. Experts say there is a growing bubbling mass of magma, like a “boiling pot of soup” beneath the volcano, and it could erupt any time, but no one really knows.
Our walking tour of Naples took us through the Piazza Plebiscito where the Santa Maria degli Angeli a Pizzofalcone (say that three times fast!), a Baroque-style church designed by Francesco Grimaldi, is located. It is also where the San Carlo Opera House and Royal Palace are located. Since the 17th Century Napoleans have used the piazza to hold large festivals, ceremonies and military parades. Unfortunately, we couldn’t go inside any of these great buildings, but we enjoyed admiring them from afar.
Not far from the piazza is the beautiful Galleria Umberto, built in the late 1800s as a covered walkway and operating today as a four-story shopping mall. Sculptures, mosaics and extraordinary plasterwork cover the building from the floor to the ceiling. Everywhere you look there’s something breathtaking to look at.
There are 3 castles in Naples, and we visited one of them, Castle Nuovo. The castle was built in 1279 and throughout its history was used as a private royal residence. Today it houses the city council offices and two museums.
We had a little time before we had to rejoin our group, so we opted to stop into a local restaurant/bar. The bar was located inside; the restaurant was outside. We placed our order at one counter, received a ticket to present at the bar, and stood at the bar to enjoy our drinks. Ken stuck to his traditional beer, and Pam had her first taste of limoncello (potent stuff!). While we were enjoying our beverages, food began appearing…first it was crackers, then the olives, then a whole plate of hot appetizers – all free. Italians really know how to treat you!
Did you know that the very first pizzeria in the world was opened in Naples in 1830? And the classic Margherita pizza originated here. It was created for visiting King Umberto I and queen Margherita. Wanting to make a more patriotic-looking pizza, the chef used red tomato sauce, white mozzarella cheese and green basil leaves as toppings. The Queen fell in love with it and Margherita pizza was born.
We had just enough time when we got back from Naples for a quick stroll through Sorrento, where our ship was anchored. Sorrento is one of our favorite cities and we couldn’t remember why we had signed up for this tour of Naples instead of staying here and enjoying beautiful Sorrento. Guess we’ll just have to come back!
A great photo op 
Piazza Plebiscito 
Maschio Angionio
(aka New Castle)
Castle carvings 
A strange thing to have on the wall of your castle 
This was a ship-building area back in the day 
The Courtyard 
Castle art 
Doors to a room we weren’t allowed to enter 
Galleria Umberto 
Galleria Umberto 
We had time to grab a beer for Ken (and lemoncello for Pam!) 
These people know how to do free bar food! 
This is how you make a pizza 
Sorrento’s main square 
We walked that staircase in the distance 
View of Sorrento from the ship 
Gotta love this city!
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